EPA-per-dropback numbers<\/a> in the league over the last two seasons (minimum six starts), according to TruMedia.<\/p>\nThe situation in Cleveland isn\u2019t that different from what Monken encountered 13 years ago, when he began the only other head-coaching job of his career.<\/p>\n
Southern Miss football hit bottom in 2012, and Hammond had to find the right mechanic to rebuild the program. He had been the assistant athletic director in 2012 and was part of the search committee that selected Ellis Johnson as head coach. Southern Miss is a proud football program that went 12-2 and won its conference in Larry Fedora\u2019s final season in 2011, and the Golden Eagles hadn\u2019t endured a losing season since 1993.<\/p>\n
That is, until Johnson went 0-12 in his lone season in charge and was subsequently fired. One of the candidates he\u2019d beaten out for the job in the previous offseason was Monken.<\/p>\n
By the time Johnson was fired, Hammond had taken over as athletic director and led the search for a replacement. The hiring committee interviewed at least five candidates and maybe six, including a few with ties to Southern Miss. Hammond wasn\u2019t convinced that any of them was right for the job, and he was becoming frustrated with the process. He didn\u2019t know much about Monken, but he remembered him from the previous hiring cycle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a soldier, and we\u2019re always looking for guys that are laser-focused \u2014 guys that know what they want to accomplish, have a firmness or purpose \u2014 and that\u2019s the thing I remembered most about his (first) interview,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cYou look in his eyes when he spoke, and he\u2019d look you right in the eyes. He was communicating directly, with a determination that reminded me in many ways of a combat leader who just got his mission and was giving his brief back before he took his troops forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Hammond picked up the phone and asked Monken, who was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, to interview again.<\/p>\n
Hammond remembers Monken being a bit gruff on the call. He basically told Hammond that Southern Miss had the opportunity to hire him the year before and didn\u2019t, so why should Monken waste his time by going through another interview?<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Hammond convinced him to try again. Monken happened to be on a recruiting visit that allowed him to arrive in Hattiesburg the next day. He walked back into the Southern Miss offices and dazzled everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo notes. He spoke from his head, from his heart, and it was brilliant,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cAfter going through other guys who had these big presentations \u2014 obviously, they were rehearsed \u2014 Todd came in with no preparation and wowed everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way that Monken was short with Hammond on their first call should surprise no one. Monken is as smooth as sandpaper. His factory setting is blunt honesty. He doesn\u2019t play office politics, perhaps to his detriment, but those who know him insist he is always straight with others. Ask him a question and be prepared for an unfiltered answer.<\/p>\n
How that plays with the Browns\u2019 quarterback room remains to be seen. It\u2019s no secret that his relationship with Lamar Jackson wore thin at times during the past three seasons, when Monken was offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Monken might have been leaving Baltimore after last season even if John Harbaugh had remained as head coach.<\/p>\n
Hammond, who played quarterback at Southern Miss in the 1970s, believes one of Monken\u2019s best attributes is his ability to evaluate quarterbacks. At Southern Miss, the coach quickly identified a lightly recruited, undersized prospect from Hoover, Ala., named Nick Mullens as the quarterback he wanted. Hammond thought Monken was crazy when he met Mullens at a recruiting breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turned to my wife and said, \u2018What the hell?\u2019\u201d Hammond recalled. \u201cBut I watched him develop the kid. He knew exactly what he was looking for. He knew how to develop quarterbacks. And the reason Mullens was able to develop was because he was an exceptional student of the game who was willing to open up and listen. He responded to Todd\u2019s coaching, and look what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mullens departed Southern Miss as a four-year starter. He still holds the school\u2019s single-season and career records for passing yards and touchdowns. He has since played eight seasons in the NFL, primarily as a backup.<\/p>\n
Whether Monken can have that type of success in Cleveland might be up to Sanders, who for now remains the presumptive favorite to start. Monken\u2019s ability to revive the offense, no matter the quarterback, will go a long way in determining how long he sticks around.<\/p>\n
For now, he has the only job he ever wanted:\u00a0NFL head coach. The man who gave him the opportunity to lead a program more than a decade ago is surprised it took this long.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always wondered why he never got a chance,\u201d Hammond said. \u201cSome people might say he\u2019s a little rough around the edges. I would call it something different. He\u2019s authentic. He\u2019s not going to shade his thoughts or his views. He probably would never survive in the political world of D.C., you know? It\u2019s not his way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the suits. If there\u2019s one anecdote that best describes new Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken, it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":676509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1544,1318,1317,1315,1316,1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-676508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-cleveland-browns","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116279795128522593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}